This is a great book! It's about a disfunctional catholic family growing up in South Carolina in 1963 and their lives (2 sisters' in particular)today. Very Funny! Easy Read - couldn't put it down.

Good reading. A great story.

Frank's debut novel is a story of redemption set in South Carolina's steamy low country. Susan Hamilton Hayes's comfortable Charleston existence is shattered when she finds her husband in bed with another woman. Faced with a failed marriage, a confused teenage daughter and a mediocre job, she sets about the business of healing. Slowly, supported by visits to her sister in their childhood home on sleepy Sullivan's Island, Susan becomes a successful newspaper columnist, regains her confidence as a woman (despite a hilariously deflating date) and finally explores the death of her complex, abusive father decades before. Chapters alternate between the present and 1963, the year her father died, as Susan faces both the strength and the damaging effects of her family legacy. The ending - complete with a perfect suitor reemerging from Susan's youth - is almost too picture perfect to ring true but both the setting and the characters are blazingly authentic. Frank evokes the eccentric Hamilton family and their feisty Gullah housekeeper with originality and conviction; Susan herself - smart, sarcastic, funny and endearingly flawed - makes a lively and memorable narrator. Thanks to these scrappily compelling portraits, this is a rich read.

Born and raised on idyllic Sullivan's Island, Susan Hayes navigated through her turbulent childhood with humor, spunk and characteristic Southern sass. But years later, she is a conflicted woman with an unfaithful husband, a sometimes resentful teenage daughter, and a heart that aches with painful memories. As she faces her uncertain future, she realizes that she must go back to her past. To the beachfront house where her sister welcomes her. To a place haunted by long-held secrets and devastating betrayals. To the only place she can truly call home..Sullivan's Island. Includes the funniest, and surprising "seduction" scene I've ever read.

This is a well-told story of a woman who grew up on Sullivan's Island, S.C. in the 60s, and who reviews her past in the course of coming to terms with her divorce from her unfaithful husband and with her relationship with her teenage daughter and her supportive (but almost perfect) sister. It is the first novel by Dorothea Benton Frank I have read, and I plan to read others. I especially like the humor, the sassiness, and the humanity.

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I must be the only person that didn't finish this book. In theory, I should have loved it. I used to live in Charleston, but this one didn't do anything for me.

This is the first Dorothea Frank novel I've read and enjoyed it a great deal. On reading summaries of her other books it sounds like she uses the same formula. Fun read nonetheless!

Dotty Frank delivers again! If you love the low country tales then this book will ring all your chimes.

The best of Benton's beach reads.

Dotty Frank's first chapter will have you laughing out loud. The funniest story ever. Everyone should remember that toothbrush trick!

Because I am from the area that this book takes place, I have a special attachment to its content and its author. Ms. Frank was brought up in the South Carolina Lowcountry and has a keen perception of its life and lore which added to my enjoyment of the story. She has spoken to our library group several times and has entertained us with her revelations of being on a book tour, and coming home to face sometimes thinly veiled story lines. Personally enjoyable and recommened to those interested in regional fiction.

Another great book from this author. Great characters, growing up in the Lowcountry of SC.....a great beach read

Born and raised on idyllic Sullivan's Island, Susan Hayes navigated through her turbulent childhood with humor, spunk, and characteristic Southern sass. But years later, she is a conflicted woman with an unfaithful husband, a sometimes resentful teenage daughter and a heart that ache with painful, poignant memories. And as Susan faces her uncertain future, she realizes that she must go back to her past. To the beachfront house where her sister welcomes her with open arms. TO a place haunted by long-held secrets and devastating betrayals. To the only place she can truly call home.....Sullivan's Island.

Truthfully, I got this book from a family member and only kept it because of it being a southern author from my locale. But, was I glad I decided to read it. A must read for any southener, or anyone who loves the southern lifestyle. Shows you can take the southern gal into the north, but you can't take the south out of the girl.

Out of all the books I have read I think this one has the most details throughout the book. It simple to keep up with the characters as some books are not. This was my favorite book yet.

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